HAPPENINGS TEN YEARS TIME AGO April 9 to 15, 1997 Singer-songwriter Laura Nyro dies of ovarian cancer, aged 49. Although a much-respected cult figure in her own right, a handful of Nyro's songs became million-sellers when recorded by others, including Barbra Streisand ("Stoney End"), The Fifth Dimension ("Wedding Bell Blues", "Stoned Soul Picnic") and Three Dog Night ("Eli's Comin'").

The hilarious news that Keith Richards snorted his father’s ashes reminds me, obliquely, of an incident involving John Cale, at the University Of East Anglia, where he was playing the first date of a UK tour with a band that included Chris Spedding on guitar and uber-producer Chris Thomas on keyboards.

Eddie Izzard also stars in new musical film Across The Universe

HAPPENINGS TEN YEARS TIME AGO April 2 to 8, 1997 The Wallflowers, led by Jakob 'son of Bob' Dylan, leap more than 50 places to No 5 in the US albums chart with Bringing Down The Horse, on its way to shifting more than two million copies - thereby out-selling any record ever released by Dylan senior.

The folk magus is to play Aintree Racecourse in July

Squeeze and Supergrass also to play the award-winning event

The madchester boys are back with first record and full tour in 15 years

HAPPENINGS TEN YEARS TIME AGO March 26 to April 1, 1997 MTV fire a string of onscreen presenters, after US ratings drop by 20 per cent. The station's facelift, which it claims will result in the screening of about 20 extra hours of videos a week, with a stronger emphasis on indie, electronica and dance artists, is also believed to have been prompted by a hugely critical music biz poll. The survey, by the Record Industry Association of America, suggests that MTV has become "surprisingly irrelevant" to consumers.

Wayne Coyne has teamed up with West Wing creator to write a Pink Robots script

The '65 Tour classic is repackaged, plus a new film rescued from the cutting floor